Armored cars, first envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci as far back as 1487, were built and used in the earliest months of the First World War. The article went on to attempt to synthesize what little was known about such machines. “Now, as to the form, size, weight and power of the armored tractors used by the British in the present Somme offensive, it is to be noted that no definite information has been allowed to pass the censor regarding these features so that what we have to say in this regard is a matter of mere speculation.” Credit: Scientific American, October 7, 1916īut censorship of new, successful weapons was strict: few military or civilians knew what these machines looked like: the new weapons were not even yet called “tanks”: In the discussions of the article in the October 7, 1916, issue they were referred to as “armored armadillos” and “armored tractors”:

War correspondents have been telling us of a huge British machine that hurdles trenches and shell-holes, that prefers to smash through a tree rather than pass around it.of course, these stories have been colored by the highly-stimulated imagination of writers, but, after making due allowances, the fabulous antics of these new juggernauts come within the limits of possibility.”Ī civilian tractor, using tracks to crush over and through scrub, shows how the editors in 1916 thought the new tanks would be propelled. We would almost believe that our old friend Baron Münchausen had come to life had ont the extraordinary developments of the present war prepared us to accept the wildest yarns as possible. “Strange tales are coming to us from the battlefields of northern France. The previous week’s issue of September 30, 1916, had talked about the new weapon: A few of these tanks were successful enough in attacking the German trenches to show that such inventions could break the deadlock of trench warfare. There were a small number of machines and after a few had broken down or become lost, perhaps 27 reached the German front lines. Tanks were first used in battle on September 15, 1916, in the latter stages of the Somme offensive, at the battle of Flers-Courcelette.

First tank battle world war 1